Means for retaining book-rings in position.



PATENTED NOV. 20, 1906.

L. M. MORDBN.

MEANS FOR RETAINING BOOK RINGS IN POSITION. APPLICATION FILED MAR. a. 1904.

2 SHEETS-SHEET-L No. 836,127. PATENTED NOV. 20, 1906. L. M. MORDEN.

MEANS FOR RETAINING BOOK RINGS IN POSITION.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. s. 1904.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 fliZesi- JW m'hi'.

.wjm Wm k/ 4 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LUCENA M. MORDEN, CF WVATERBURY, CONNECTICUT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 20, 1906.

Application fil d March 8, 1904. Serial lie-197.158.

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, LUoENA M. MonDEN, a citizen of the United States, (whose residence and post-office address is 59 Grand street, Waterbury, county of New Haven, State of Connecticut,) have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Means for Retaining Book-Rings in Position, fully described and represented in the following specification and the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the same.

This invention relates to that class of looseleaf files or binders in which the perforations in the loose leaves are fitted upon two or more rings which hold the leaves movably in position, so that they may be turned over upon the rings, as upon a hinge, and the inscriptions may thus be made or may be in spected upon any of the leaves at pleasure. Such rings are far more compact and more neat in appearance than the various filing pins and prongs which have been used in analogous constructions and are, moreover,

adapted to combine with various holding devices, because they embrace in themselves two holding members integrally connected upon one side of the ring, to which an opening-section may be hinged at one end and provided at the op osite end with a locking device, the intcgral members with the movable section forming the complete ring, which needs no attachments whatever for holding sheets together, and the movable section of the ring being held firmly in its closed posi-. tion by the elastic adjustment of the remaining part of the ring. The present invention uses such rings in their entirety by combining them with means for adjusting two or more of such rings at suitable distances apart to hold perforated sheets or leaves of paper.

The present invention consists in forming the book-rings with apertures or carriers adapted to engage a guide-bar and fitting them movably upon such bar, so that they are held from turning, while they may be adjusted or spaced apart to suit various requirements. .Such book-rings are often used independently of any covers for holding a series of loose leaves together; but such loose rings are not entirely satisfactory, because they are provided with a jointed segment to be opened for applying or removing the leaves, and there is no means in such case to hold the jointed segments always in the same position for convenient access, and this necessitates turning them around to find the segment. As such loose rings are independent of one another, they may be applied with equal convenience to loose leaves having per' forations at any distance apart; and the present invent-ion furnishes a means of holding the book-rings from turning, while permitting their adjustment apart, so as to fit perforations at different distances in the leaves. Where such rings have been fastened in the back of a book to be used in connection with covers, the rings have been permanently attached to a back plate and cannot therefore be set at different distances apart. This necessitates the manufacture of the back plates with rings to suit the special requirements of different books or perforated loose leaves; and the object of the present invention is to obviate the necessity of such special manufactures, which is effected in the present invention by using a suitable guide-bar in connection with the rings and constructing the rings to engage and slide upon such guidebar. The apertures or carriers of all the rings are made in the same relation to the movable segment, and a guide-bar thus holds the rings from rotating and maintains the segments always in an accessible position, while it permits the rings to be adjusted laterally upon the guide-bar and to be used with perforations at different distances apart and to be secured with the guide-bar in the binding of a book with the rings spaced in any desired manner when required.

A round wire may be used as the guide-bar and round perforations made through the rings to receive such wire, or notches may be made in the inner or outer edges of the rings and a suitable guide bar fitted to such notches.

WVhere the rings are finally secured in the binding of a book, the muslin or material used in the binding may be employed to fix the rings permanently at the desired distance apart; but when the rings are used without a bookbinding the guide-bar may be constructed to grip the rings elastically or pro' vided with yokes or carriers which clamp the bar elastically and embrace the rings to hold them in any adjusted position.

Where the rings are used without any binding, the guide-bar may be placed under the leaves which are held by the rings, and

such arrangement serves to hold the segments always in a fixed relation to the leaves, in which the segments may be readily opened.

The invention is shown in several forms in the annexed drawings, in which Figure 1 is an end view of a group of leaves and covers secured together by rings provided with my improvement. Fig. 1 shows a ring with round aperture 0/ drilled transversely through one side of the same. Fig. 2 shows the group in perspective viewed from the under side with one of the covers removed or omitted to expose the guide-bar and the elastic yokes. Fig. 3 is a plan and Fig. 4 an end view of an elastic yoke formed of sheet metal. Fig. 5 is a plan and Fig. 6 an end view of an elastic yoke formed of wire, one of the rings being shown embraced by the yoke in this figure. Fig. 7 is an end view of a loose-leaf binder with covers and a back having the improvements applied thereto. Fig. 8 shows the inner side of the covers adjacent to the back, such covers being thrown open to expose the rings and broken at their outer edges for want of space upon the drawings; and Fig. 9 is an edge view of the back box and the fixtures detached from the binding. In Figs. 8 and 9 a slotted guide bar is shown fitted to carriers attached to the outer edges of the rings. Fig. 10 is a side View of a notched ring to fit a fiat guidebar. Fig. 11 is an end view of the flat guidebar with a notched ring embracing the same,

and Fig. 12 is a side view of the flat guide-' bar with two rings thereon.

With the constructions illustrated in the drawings, the opening-section is pivoted at one end to turn upon the axis of the wire which forms the adjacent member, and such a hinge is readily formed by boring a hole in the end of such adjacent member upon its axial line and forming the movable section with a pintle to fit in such hole, as is fully shown in my Patent No. 651,950, granted June 9, 1900; but any suitable hinge upon a movable section which cooperates with integral members forming the remainder of the ring may obviously be used to practice the invention, as the ring in all such cases forms a complete filing device independent of other attachments, as the wire of such ring fits readily in the holes upon the perforated sheets and secures the sheets together, while permitting them to be turned over upon the ring as easily as the leaves of a book.

In Figs. 1 to 6 the guide-bar a is shown of round wire, and the rings 6 formed with movable segment I), which may be turned laterally upon the joint b as indicated by dotted lines 0 in Fig. 2, to apply the leaves (1. The movable segment or section fits at its opposite ends to two members, which in a bookring are made integral with one another and constructed to ress elastically upon the opposite ends of the movable section when it is closed. A complete structure is thus formed by the opening-section and the two members integrally connected, which form the remainder of the ring, and such a structure is termed a complete ring herein to distinguish it from the various forms of bent filing pins and prongs which are not used in conjunction with such members to form a complete ring. Perforated covers e of shape similar to the loose leaves are shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The rings are perforated at a uniform distance from the joint 6 and may be strung upon the guide-bar a at any distance apart when adjusted to fit the perforations in the leaves (1. To hold them in such position when the leaves are not upon the rings, a yoke f is shown in Figs. 1 to 4 made of sheet metal, with aperture 9 to embrace the ring and slits h at the sides of such aperture which permit the metal to be pressed in opposite directions sulliciently to pass the guide-rod between them, as shown in Fig. 4. The portions f which contact with the opposite sides of the guide-bar form a socket which is constructed to press elastically upon the guide-bar, and thus hold the yoke and the ring in position by friction. The yoke is a species of carrier by which the ring is adjusted and held upon any part of the wire guide-bar. tirely through the a erture g in the sheetmetal yoke; but a yo e made of wire is shown in Figs. 5 and 6, formed of a fork with arms of sulficient length to extend from the end loop f to be doubled under for one-half of their length, as shown in Fig. 6, and press elastically upon the guide-ba The ring I) may, as shown in Fig. 6, lie be tween the sides of the fork, whichenables this form of yoke to sustain the ring upon a flat surface; but the loop f of the wire may be placed inside of the ring, so as to extend across the ring transversely, like the sheet metal yoke shown in Fig. 1. the loose sheets press against the yoke and hold the rings in a fixed relation to the sheets.

In Figs. 7 to 9, inclusive, the guide-bar is formed of sheet metal, with a longitudinal slot 1, in which carriers Z are fitted and each provided with one of the rings 1) b.

The metal strips 'i have their edges bent inwardly and backwardly to form ribs and the outer portions of the strips are secured, as by solder, to the opposite edges of a box m, which is used when a flexible binding is to be secured to the guide-bar. Such binding (designated a) is shown secured in the box between the bent edges of the same by a locking-plate 0, and covers 6 are shown attached to such flexible binding at opposite sides of the sheets d. A piece of fabric is also shown extended from the covers over the back of the box m to inclose the same. The carrier is attached to a carrier-plate having flanges 7c bent inwardly at opposite edges One side of the ring passes en- 5 In this position .and such blocks serve to embrace the ribs f elastically. The ribs 3 are also set at a suitable distance from the body of the box m to permit the carrier-plate to press elastically thereon, and any of such elastic contacts suflices to hold the rings where they are adjusted.

Figs. 10 to 12 show a guide-bar formed of a flat rectangular strip and so-called bookrings flattened at one side with interior notches at the opposite ends of the flattened portion. Such notches are fitted snugly to the guide-bar and serve to hold the rings in any position into which they may be adl justed upon the bar. The bar is shown with blocks or spacing-pieces 19 attached to its opposite ends, (which would be applied after the rings were placed upon the guide-bar) to support the bar upon any flat surface or upon a base-piece in the back of a bind er. l

WVith any of the constructions shown it is obvious that the rings maybe applied to and soldered with a guide-bar of the maximum length that would be required, and the round or flat 1 guide-bar may be readily cut off to suit the breadth of the leaves with which the rings are to be used and the rings adjusted upon the guide-bar and held thereon with suflicient firmness in any desired position by the yokes or by the elastic grip of the carriages upon the guide-bars.

The essential feature of the invention is the combination with a suitable guide-bar of a series of complete rings, each of which has the integral members adapted to hold the movable section in its operative position irrespective of the supporting and guiding devices which sustain the rings adjustably and prevent them from turning. The device thus holds the movable segments of the 1 rings in a fixed relation to the loose leaves, so that the movable segments can always be found in the same place for opening and closing the same. The fixtures can thus without being made especially to order be supplied to manufacturers of loose-leaf books, tablets, and binders and the rings spaced at any convenient distance apart. I do not, therefore, limit myself to the precise construction shown and described herein.

The guide-bar, yokes, and rings shown in Figs. 2 and 3 constitute a complete set of fixtures which can be used in holding loose leaves without any covers or other attachments.

Having thus set forth the nature of the invention, what is claimed herein is 1. In a loose-leaf file, the combination, 1

with a series of book-rings having each an opening-section held elastically between the remaining integral members of the ring, of means operating both to hold the bookrings from turning for maintaining the opening-sections in the same relative position, and also to hold the rings adjustably for spacing them at any desired distance apart.

2. In a loose-leaf file, the combination, with a series of book-rings having each an opening-section held elastically between the remaining integral members of the ring, of a suitable guide-bar and means operating elastically upon the guide-bar to hold the rings adjustably thereon.

3. In a loose-leaf file, the combination, with a series of book-rings having each an openingsection held elastically between the remaining integral members of the ring, of a suitable guidebar, and a series of carriers fitted adjustably to the guide-bar and each provided with one of the complete bookrings, whereby the rings are held adjustably and prevented from rotation.

4. In a loose-leaf file, the combination, with a suitable guide-bar, of a series of bookrings perforated transversely to slide upon the bar, and flat yokes formed to clamp the bar elastically and to embrace the rings, and extended transversely of the bar to lie against the surface of the perforated leaves.

5. In a loose-leaf file, the combination, with a series of book-rings having each an opening-section held elastically between the remaining integral members of the ring, of a suitable guide-bar, and a series of carriers fitted adjustably to the guide-bar and each provided with one of the complete bookrings, whereby the rings are held adjustably and prevented from rotation, the bar having means for securing it to a back plate or cover.

6. In a loose-leaf file, the combination, with a suitable guide-bar, of a series of book" rings adjustable upon the bar, yokes applied to the bar to lie against the surface of the perforated sheets, and a cover having perforations fitted to the rings to lie against the outer side of the yokes, wherebythe yokes are clamped beneath the leaves and the rings are held from turning.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

LUCENA M. MORDEN. Witnesses:

L. LEE, THoMAs S. CRANE. 

